Financial advisor for optometrists

Financial planning for optometrists in Calgary and across Canada: the professional corporation, salary or dividends, buying into or selling a practice, and retirement. Kaetyn St. Hilaire, CFA, plans the practice and the household together.

Optometrists usually start as associates, and many move into ownership of a practice that combines professional services with eyewear sales. Each stage changes the plan.

Associates are paid as employees or as independent contractors, often on a share of billings. Employees build RRSP room through salary. Contractors report business income, pay both halves of CPP and may be able to incorporate.

An optometry practice is a professional practice and a retail business at once: exam fees, eyewear inventory, staff and equipment. A professional corporation keeps profit you do not need at the small business rate, and inventory and equipment are financed from corporate cash flow.

Many optometrists start practice with large student loans. Interest on government student loans qualifies for a federal tax credit; interest on a professional line of credit does not. Since April 2023 the federal portion of Canada Student Loans charges no interest, so more expensive debt usually comes off first.

An owner ends up with a personal portfolio and a corporate one. They need one investment plan, including the passive income rules that can cost the corporation its small business rate.

The benefit comes from income you do not need to spend. Retained earnings are taxed at the small business rate (11% in Alberta and British Columbia, 12.2% in Ontario) instead of your top personal rate, and the difference compounds inside the corporation. A common rule of thumb is $50,000 or more a year that you do not need for personal spending. If you spend everything the practice earns, a corporation adds accounting cost without much deferral.

Salary builds RRSP room (18% of the prior year's earned income, up to $33,810 for 2026), funds CPP and keeps an Individual Pension Plan possible. Dividends need no payroll and leave more in the corporation to invest. Dividends to family members who are not active in the practice are generally taxed at the top rate under the tax on split income (TOSI) rules. For most owners the answer is a blend, reviewed every year before year end.

Most optometrists either buy into a practice, sell one, or both. The structure of each deal matters as much as the price.

Buyers usually prefer to buy the assets of a optometry practice, so they can claim capital cost allowance on the equipment. Sellers usually prefer a share sale, because the lifetime capital gains exemption ($1.25 million in 2026) can shelter the gain on qualifying shares. The difference in what you keep after tax can run to hundreds of thousands of dollars, so model both structures before you agree to a price.

To qualify for the exemption, at least 90% of the corporation's assets must be used in the active business at the time of sale, and more than 50% throughout the 24 months before it. Investments left inside the corporation can fail that test. Moving surplus investments to a holding company two to three years ahead keeps the shares qualified.

Buying a optometry practice, or a partner's shares, is usually financed with a loan repaid from corporate cash flow. Only the interest is deductible, not the principal. Model how the payments affect your salary, RRSP room and personal savings before you sign. Paying no salary through a ten-year repayment gives up ten years of RRSP room for good.

Buyers range from an associate who already works in the practice to larger optometry groups. An internal sale can be phased over several years, which spreads the transition; a sale to a group is often faster.

“The question is never whether you'll pay tax on your registered accounts. The question is what rate you'll pay and whether that decision is yours or the government's.”

Kaetyn St. Hilaire, CFA, in Paying Too Much in Taxes? Here's How Wealthy Canadians Legally Pay Less

An IPP is a defined benefit pension registered for the owner of a corporation. From the late forties on, it typically allows larger deductible contributions than an RRSP, past service can be funded, and pension assets do not count toward the passive income limit. It requires T4 salary, so a dividends-only history rules it out.

Salary creates RRSP room; dividends do not. The TFSA ($7,000 of new room for 2026) is open to everyone, grows tax free and its withdrawals do not count toward the OAS clawback. Which comes first depends on your tax rate today against the rate you expect in retirement.

After a sale, what remains in the corporation still has to come out. Dividends spread over lower-income years, the capital dividend account and planned withdrawals keep the tax on the way out as low as the rules allow.

Own-occupation disability coverage pays if you can no longer practise optometry, even if you could work in another field. Owners also need overhead expense coverage, and corporate-owned life insurance can fund a buyout or estate taxes.

Kaetyn is a Calgary-based financial advisor who works with high earners and medical professionals. He focuses on actionable strategies: the salary-dividend mix inside a professional corporation, RRSP and TFSA contributions, pensions and a long-term investment plan that spans the corporate and personal sides.

A complimentary, no-obligation conversation about your practice, your corporation and your goals, and a clear explanation of how we can help.